Amazon warehouse worker lawsuit can proceed

Long security lines at Amazon.com warehouses could end up costing the company more than $100 million, attorney says

April 29, 2013|By Spencer Soper, Of The Morning Call

Online retailer Amazon.com goes to great lengths to prevent employee theft, requiring thousands of its warehouse workers to pass through metal detectors at the end of their shifts.

The threat of theft at its warehouses is significant because employees have access to vast inventories of valuable merchandise. At the online retailer's Breinigsville warehouse alone, police have arrested workers who allegedly pilfered thousands of dollars' worth of video games, watches, electronics, clothing and other merchandise.

The Seattle company's efforts to minimize such losses could end up having a huge cost, as well. Attorneys representing warehouse workers who were required to clock out before passing through security estimate some 100,000 people are owed more than $100 million in back wages and penalties for time spent on security lines.

At issue is whether warehouse employees should be compensated for the time they spend on lines going through security checkpoints.

That practice prompted a class-action lawsuit in 2010 in Nevada on behalf of warehouse workers hired through the employment firm Integrity Staffing Solutions, which also recruits workers for Amazon's Breinigsville warehouse.

Nevada employees Jesse Busk and Laurie Castro alleged that the security check often took up to 25 minutes, for which they were not compensated. Their complaint was filed as a federal class-action lawsuit potentially on behalf of Amazon warehouse workers around the country.

"If Integrity or Amazon had to pay people, they would make it convenient and get them out as quickly as possible," said Joe Buck, an attorney with the Thierman Law Group in Reno, Nev., which is representing workers. "But they don't, so they don't give them any consideration."

The Nevada district court in 2011 dismissed the case, saying the workers were not entitled to payment for time on security lines. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month reversed that decision, saying that the workers have a "plausible claim for relief."

Attorneys for the Wilmington, Del.-based Integrity Staffing Solutions have been busy trying to get the appeals court to reconsider its decision. Attorneys for the warehouse workers, meanwhile, plan to take the lawsuit nationally, potentially enlisting every worker from every Amazon warehouse in the country, whether they worked directly for Amazon or through a staffing firm.

Integrity Staffing Solutions and Amazon, which had 2012 sales of $61 billion, declined to comment for this story.

Two Lehigh Valley residents who used to work at Amazon.com's Breinigsville warehouse said they were required to clock out at the end of their shifts before passing through security checkpoints. The amount of time they spent on line ranged from a few minutes during slow times to up to 20 minutes during the busy holiday shopping season, when Amazon doubles the number of workers in its warehouse.

Whitehall Township resident Toddy Ferryman said passing through the first security checkpoint would take between five and 10 minutes during Amazon's peak season before Christmas. If you set off a metal detector and had to have a security worker check you with a wand, it could take an additional 10 minutes, he said.

He said many workers stopped wearing belts and used string and shoelaces to hold up their pants so they could get out of work more quickly.

Allentown resident James Herbold said employees would clock out, then go to an area where they removed their belts and emptied their pockets before passing through a metal detector.

"If you didn't set something off, you could be out in a few minutes," he said. "If you set something off, it could take an extra 10 minutes."

This isn't the first time Amazon.com's security measures caused problems for employees.

A series of false alarms in November and December 2010 forced Amazon to evacuate its Breinigsville warehouse, often during frigid weather. Fire and police officials suspected the false alarms were theft-related since everyone would leave the building without going through security.

Multiple warehouse workers were treated at hospitals for cold exposure after being outside, without coats, in temperatures below freezing for prolonged periods, including one night for about two hours, according to records from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that monitors workplace safety.

Workers said Amazon forced them to remain huddled in the parking lot on frigid nights while many workers were wearing only shorts and T-shirts. After attendance was taken to make sure all employees evacuated, warehouse workers said they were not allowed to go to their cars to keep warm. Instead, they were instructed by warehouse managers to use one another's body heat and told that anyone caught going to their cars would be disciplined and could be terminated, workers said.

Several workers said they surmised they were not allowed to go to their cars as part of the company's theft prevention efforts, but said managers did not give a reason.